RNZ’s Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan will broadcast from the city’s visitor information centre next week, the host revealed on air yesterday.
Host Jesse Mulligan called the city’s visitor information centre last week as part of a weekly segment when he randomly calls an information centre around New Zealand with the goal of learning more about the town or city in question.
However, when it was Dunedin’s turn to take the cold call, Mr Mulligan was stymied.
He said he was "looking for some help with some local attractions" and when he was told the isite was busy, he decided to call Whangārei instead.
The reaction on social media was not positive.
Failing to take the call was seen as a missed opportunity to promote the city to a national audience.
Some said it was embarrassing Mr Mulligan had been "stymied by bureaucracy".
"He won’t be the only one who got the runaround," one said.
Yesterday, on his show, Mr Mulligan said he was "fine" with the way the call was handled.
"No-one’s obligated to talk to me in the afternoon.
"Everyone’s got better things to do, people are busy — I had no problem with it.
"But the Otago Daily Times ran a story saying it was a giant missed opportunity for Dunedin.
"I felt very bad about the people who’d been on the phone with me, feeling any sense of guilt about not putting me through, getting flack.
"So, we want to try and start a bit of a healing process with Dunedin."
"After some intense negotiations with Dunedin stakeholders", the entire show would be broadcast live from the Dunedin isite next Monday.
"Finally, Dunedin will get its time in the sun.
"My thanks to our team of producers behind the scenes who have organised for that to happen."
This time there would be plenty of opportunities for visitor information staff to talk up attractions and other opportunities for visitors.
"Also, I’ve just checked the price of flights from Auckland to Dunedin, and I’m announcing this now before management have a chance to backtrack once they’ve seen how much it’s going to cost," he said.
— APL
